Pilgrim World covered a lot of land. It was more of a museum than anything, complete with some amateur actors that were dressed much like the three boys Ember had seen a week previously, and fought in the Weathervane.

But all she knew was that there was bound to be one or two or probably more displays on Joseph Crackstone. And she needed to see them.

"Hey Ember, wanna grab a Hummers group photo?" Eugene, who was also volunteering at Pilgrim World, asked the girl. He had just been taking a photo of Yoko and Bianca in one of the things where you stuck your head through, and was suggesting he and Ember do the same.

He was delusional.

"Guess not," he realised this as he got stared down by the girl, who was repulsed by the idea.

It appeared a lot of the Nevermore students were volunteering at Pilgrim World, because not only were Eugene, Yoko and Bianca, but so were about fifteen other students in blue and black uniforms.

"Good morrow, my young Nevermore kin," said a woman in a black dress and white bonnet, who was obviously their leader. Clearly she was part of this charade as well. "I am Mistress Arlene. A real OC. Original colonist," she added, as many people didn't understand. "Now prithee, put your cell phones on vibrate and make haste, for you are about to travel back in time to the year of our lord, sixteen twenty five, Jericho's first Pilgrim settlement."

She turned and headed off into Pilgrim World, where many display sheds lay.

She turned around about five metres on. "Yonder, behold, the meeting house," she gestured to an old shed with a pointy roof. "Inside is a collection of artifacts related to Jericho's most beloved and pious founder, Joseph Crackstone."

Bingo.

"And beyond that is our privy, America's first gender neutral restroom," Mistress Arlene said.

"I haveth a query," Ember took her chance, stepping forward to address the woman.

"Pray, be quick, child," she said.

"In the meeting house, which of Joseph Crackstone's artifacts are on display?" Ember asked, trying to gain information

"It is truly a treasure trove," the woman told her. "Including original farm tools, tableware, even the Crackstone family chamber pot."

"Sounds fascinating. I volunteer to work there," Ember seized the opportunity, finally she was going to find out more-

"Pray, no. That exhibit is being renovated," Mistress Arlene shook her head, dashing Ember's hopes. "Today, thou will all be working at the beating heart of Pilgrim World."

She gave a smirk that sickened Ember, much like how where they were going to be working did a minute later.

𝚈𝙴 𝙾𝙻𝙳𝙴 𝙵𝚄𝙳𝙶𝙴𝚁𝚈 came into view a second later on a sign. This was clearly where they were supposed to be working.

"Ye Olde Fudgery?" Eugene asked from beside Ember.

"More like Ye Olde Get Diabetes Before Thirty," Ember said, eyes dead set on the sign, annoyed.

"Volunteers, pick up thine ears," Mistress Arlene was not holding a tray of neatly folded uniforms, identical to the one she was wearing. "Fudge is the lifeblood of our humble community. And samples equal sales, so, grab a uniform and a box and make our forefathers proud."

At least it's black, Ember thought savagely as she picked one up. Because if it wasn't, they wouldn't be leaving here with their ears.

"Are these for muzzling tourists?"

❣︎❣︎❣︎

Whilst Bianca and Yoko sold their samples (basically small bits of fudge on cocktail sticks) outside, Ember was in the front of the shop, and whilst they mingled and tried to make friends with the guests, Ember wasn't at all warming up to them.

As she held her tray with six types of fudge on it, she said in German. "Genießen sie ihren 'authentischen' pilger-fudge aus kakaobohnen, die von den unterdrückten ureinwohnern des Amazonas produziert werden. Alle erlöse fließen in die aufrechterhaltung dieser erbärmlichen schönfärberei der amerikanischen geschichte. Außerdem wurde fudge erst in weiteren zweihundertachtundfünfzig jahren erfunden. Irgendwelche abnehmer?"

("Enjoy your 'authentic' pilgrim fudge made from cocoa beans produced by the oppressed native people of the Amazon. All proceeds go towards maintaining this pathetic whitewashing of american history. Also, fudge wasn't invented for another two hundred and fifty eight years. Any buyers?")

She extended the tray out to everyone.

No one took it. They got out of there as fast as they could, none of them stopping to pay a tip on the way. Ember smirked. She loved when people walked away from her.

"Come here, freak!"

Ember looked outside, shocked when she saw Eugene. He was getting pushed around by the three pilgrims she had fought with. The ones who she had undoubtedly dominated.

It was time for a rematch.

Putting her tray down and collecting her bag, she headed outside, where she saw Eugene being sick all over one of them. Clearly he had had too many samples. The boy he was sick over, meanwhile, hadn't seen the funny side, and was now picking Eugene up and taking him towards the stocks, which were supposed to be a toy for the visitors to use for fun.

However, this time, there would be no laughing.

In fact, the boy was just shoving Eugene's head and arms in and was about to close the top over when Ember got in on the scene.

"Howdy, Pilgrims."

The boy laughed, continuing to close the top-

Ember got there first, blocking it with a hand. "Let him go."

"You wanna end up in the stocks, too?" The boy covered in sick asked.

"Did that hit I gave you give you memory loss?" Ember asked. "Because I think you remember what happened the last time we did this."

The boy thought about it for a second then seized Eugene, taking him out of the stocks and hurling him backwards, knocking him into his mates.

The boy then went at Ember, grabbing her neck, she easily twisted his arm and tripped him, letting him fall over on the stocks stand.

"Get her!" His mates said, as he got back up, throwing a punch at Ember which she ducked calmly. He tried again but she grabbed his hands, cracking his fingers right back. "Argh!"

She then spun him by the hand into the stocks, stamping on the lever to put the top down and trapping the boy in there. She stared at him intensely. "I hope your memory serves you better this time.

"Are you two still here?" She also added to the two boys standing over near Eugene, who was looking dazed.

"I can't get into anymore trouble with my dad," the boy who Ember had before assumed the leader said.

And with that the two boys walked off.

"Let's get you cleaned up," Ember said to Eugene, still speaking flatly.

"Nobody's ever stood up for me before," he said five minutes later, as Ember cleaned him with a cloth she had found at the fudgery. "You're the only one that's ever done that, Ember. You're brave."

"You said Hummers stick together," Ember told him.

"Well, I know this might come as a shock, but... I don't have any friends," Eugene said bluntly.

Ember looked down, sighing. "You remind me of my cousin. Not the dark one that goes to school with me. My other one at home. Sans the desire to strangle him every waking moment," she finished, ending sentiment with strangulation.

She stood up. "Now follow me. I need to know more about Joseph Crackstone."

Eugene didn't ask why, he just blindly followed to the Meeting House, which they soon saw was padlocked.

"Give me your retainer," Ember ordered, putting a hand out. She had noticed Eugene putting it back in after the whole fudge incident.

"What? Why? Your teeth are like really good," Eugene said, not understanding. "Not as straight or white as Enid's but still-"

"I have no desire to have teeth as bleached as my roommate's," Ember said. "Now hand it over!"

Eugene looked at her then got his retainer out his mouth, wiped it on his sleeve and handed it to her. "What if Mistress Arlene catches us?"

"Hive code, deny everything," Ember said, twisting the retainer's wire in her hands and molding it into a lock pick.

"That's not hive code!" Eugene said worriedly.

"Oh, sorry, I'm new," Ember said, sticking the wire into the padlock and slowly picking at it.

"What's the big deal anyway?" Eugene asked. "The fudge is definitely the best part about this place. Not some old pilgrim-"

"Stop speaking. Keep watch," Ember said, finally getting the padlock to open and handing Eugene back his retainer, opening the door slowly in case it creaked.

As soon as she got in, she opened her bag and let Thing out, inspecting the place.

My grandmother once told me that secrets are like zombies...

She noticed a lifesize waxwork of Crackstone, with a staff and hat. And buckled shoes. He also had his cape on, and a black and white outfit much like hers under it.

They never truly die.

She looked into the waxwork's eyes, and saw the sickening smirk on his face...

I'm not sure what secret Crackstone is hiding, but I have a strange feeling the answers to my future lie in the past.

Thing was pulling at the end of her dress. She looked down to see him pointing to a picture on the wall in the corner.

It was big; the biggest in the room.

"The Old Meeting House, sixteen twenty five," Ember read from the sign beside the painting.

She then looked at it. It showed people around a fire, and a pilgrim she recognised as Crackstone, standing up to address all these people.

But that wasn't what she was looking at.

She was looking at a girl in the far left of the painting, carrying a book. She had blonde plaits, and a pale face just like Ember's.

She was the same girl Ember had seen in the vision during the Poe Cup yesterday.

"Thing, this is the girl from my vision," Ember said. "She's even holding the same book," she added, noticing the watermark on the book to be the same as yesterday, but different to the Nightshade one.

And then what do you know? Thing pointed a different way, to a display cabinet.

"This is the book!" Ember said in awe, as she went over to the cabinet to see the same book the girl had been carrying in both the vision and the picture.

She didn't hesitate to open the cabinet and slip the book out.

" 'Codex Umbrarum'," she quoted off the front cover. "That's Latin for 'Book of Shadows'."

But as she opened it, all she saw was blank pages.

"Amazing, it's a fake," Ember said sarcastically to herself, flipping through.

Nothing.

She saw a barcode on the bag, saying Etsy on top of it. "I don't know who Etsy is, but I doubt she was an outcast settler."

"Urgh!" A grunt came from the door just as Mistress Arlene came in, holding Eugene firmly.

"Just what the fudge are you doing in here, missy?" The mistress asked.

"Mistress Arlene, interesting word choice," Ember smirked. "It's wonderfully ironic."

"Ironic, indeed!" Mistress Arlene scoffed angrily. "I proclaimed the Meeting House is under repair! I know thoust heard me!"

"I told her the door was unlocked," chimed in Eugene. "It was a perfect opportunity and you were dying to learn more about Crackstone."

"Yes, and this cabinet was already open. Under repair, I suspect," Ember said, gesturing to the cabinet which she had, in fact, opened up.

"That book's a replica," the mistress looked to the book in Ember's hand.

"I wouldn't know," the girl replied sarcastically.

"The original was stolen last month during the two o'clock witch trial," Mistress Arlene disclosed.

"It was probably the only original thing you have in here, yet you still charge twenty five ninety nine a ticket?" She asked.

"Thoust's tongue is wicked!" Mistress Arlene was properly offended now. She looked to Ember then Eugene. "I'm reassigning you both. To fudge churning duty!"

She seemed to thing this would disappoint them massively, and Eugene did sigh. But Ember was in need of information.

"The Old Meeting House, the original one, in that painting, where is it?"

All she received was an angry sigh. "How the hell should I know?" Mistress Arlene asked. "I only moved here from Scottsdale in April."

It was Ember who was angrily sighing next.

❣︎❣︎❣︎

Ember did end up going to the Weathervane, but it wasn't for Xavier, it was for Tyler. She needed to know where the Old Meeting House was, and there was a ninety nine percent chance he would know.

"I thought you were supposed to be at Pilgrim World."

Whilst looking at the notice board at the far end of the shop, Xavier had come out to serve some customers, dressed very much like Tyler. Ember almost smiled.

"I deserted it with my sanity intact," Ember said, for she had escaped from fudge churning by coming here and getting Wednesday to go in her place. They had changed just five minutes ago.

"Oh yeah, and is that anything to do with why I can't find your goth girl cousin anywhere?" Xavier asked, leaning on the counter and smiling at her as she walked towards him.

"Wednesday and I simply swapped, just like I did with Enid," Ember replied snidely.

"Well... you want a coffee?" Xavier asked, rolling his eyes. "It's one of the many perks of this wonderful assignment."

"I'm actually here for Tyler," Ember delivered to him.

Xavier's smile melted off his face and his eyes went down. "I thought I told you to stay away," he said to her bitterly.

"Twice," Ember corrected. "But I don't need protecting. And I'll speak to who I want."

Xavier gave a hollow chuckle. "One of the great things about you, Ember; you don't let anyone boss you around."

"There are few things about me that are great," Ember replied. "But at least you're not making up facts about me."

She rung the bell at the counter and a couple of seconds later, Tyler appeared round the corner. He looked from Xavier to Ember. "Am I interrupting something here?"

"No," Ember and Xavier said in unison. Then they locked eyes with each other. Xavier scoffed and walked off to the kitchen. Ember turned round.

Tyler was eyeing the place on the counter where Xavier had been seconds before. Then he looked to Ember. "You want the usual?"

A quad over ice had become somewhat of a thing for them. "And some assistance," Ember added to the list. She got out a map of Jericho she had taken from Pilgrim World, unfolded it and layed it on the table.

"You know the original pilgrim meeting house, the one from the sixteen hundreds?" She asked, looking at Tyler. "Do you know if it's still around?"

"What's left of it is out in Cobham Woods, but it's pretty much a ruin," Tyler said unsurely.

Ember nodded. "Show me," she tapped the map.

"Uh..." Tyler slowly put a finger to the map. "There. But, look, it's kinda sketchy. And... creepy."

"Sounds like just my place," Ember said back flatly.

"No, I mean, squatters and meth heads use that place as a crash pad," Tyler reiterated. "My dad has to clear it out every couple of weeks. Hey, what's this about?" He added, seeing her packing up the map, ready to move on.

"Nothing," Ember replied quickly, putting the map in her bag.

Tyler, meanwhile, was grinning. "You're really becoming obsessed with this whole monster in the woods thing."

"Would you rather I obsess over boys and gossip?" Ember retorted. She then added. "Thank you for your help," to the grinning boy, and with that, she left the cafe.

"Hey, listen, um- the ruins are kinda tricky to find," Tyler said, running after her and stopping her just before the door. "I could take you this afternoon? My shift ends at two?"

Unfortunately, he said this just after Xavier had come back out of the door to the kitchen. And the boy had heard him.

But thankfully, Ember turned him down. "Principal Weems would execute me with fifty small strikes of the axe if I miss the big statue dedication," the girl replied shortly. "And as enticing as that sounds, I don't want to make a big scene. I'll go alone. That's how I prefer to work. And I know my way around the great outdoors."

"Don't tell me you were a girl scout?" Tyler grinned.

"I could eat girl scouts for breakfast, along with their surprising appetising cookies," Ember retorted, earning a well hidden (though not entirely unnoticed) grin from Xavier. Ember strode past him on the way out, not at all seeing his look of appreciation for her comebacks.